Royal Performer - Chapter 24 and Epilogue

Princess Alexandria Alessi’s life has turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Only a few days ago, she was enjoying a clandestine summer shopping with her best friend at the local mall. Coming home, she was alarmed to discover her mom was there, and her secret of being transgender was suddenly no longer secret! Within a few short hours, her life became like a movie as she discovered that her long-lost father was the Crown Prince of Osané, a small, secluded island nation. Alexandria was immediately thrust into the spotlight in a whirlwind weekend that led to a Monday press conference to announce her royal lineage. Royal Performer is the second Tiffany Shar's 'Suddenly Royal' series.

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Chapter 24: Own It!

AS I DRESSED that morning, I wondered if I had truly lost my mind. I was putting a lot of faith in the girls to all show up like they said they would, too! The jumper dress and polo that Grandma had magicked out of nowhere was much softer and comfier than the one I’d worn the day before. I was glad she’d also found them for Léa and Noémi, too, figuring Louise would probably like the one Léa had for the rest of the year then.

I was dressed and looking for shoes, realizing that the good shoes I’d been wearing the past couple of days were gone... who knows where? I found the shoes from the day before with the kitty faces and actually smiled, thinking they were cute. I put them on my feet over my socks and walked out to where Giselle awaited me.

“I know you’re doing this because of a bad thing, but you look adorable,” she told me.

I blushed, “I know, and I can’t help that!”

“So, what are we doing with your hair this morning?” She asked me.

I smirked, “It’s probably completely against all princess rules, but can you do two braided pigtails with bows on the ends?”

She laughed, “Play into the look fully, huh?” I felt her begin brushing my hair, “Well, just be careful not to end up at the wrong campus. They might not let you out of Year 3 looking like that!”

I shrugged, “They probably have less homework?”

I felt her tickle my side, then, “Careful what you wish for!”

I laughed and appreciated that Giselle was the one doing my hair that day. She was by far my favorite of the two women tasked to me!

I sat still longer as her practiced hands braided both sides of my hair. I could feel the ends brushing against my back, and in the mirror, I watched the cute white bows tied to the ends. I was wearing one of my padded bras again, so there was a slight mounding of my shirt, but even with that, I doubted anyone would believe I was in high school!

Before going to breakfast, I had Giselle take a quick picture of me and then a selfie of us together. I sent the photo to my group, and they all responded that they were coming in pigtails, too.

Grandma and Madame Lavigne both gave me odd looks. Still, Madame Lavigne was the one who said, “Well, Your Highness, you definitely look adorable!”

Grandma nodded, “I just hope this doesn’t bite us all in the end?”

“Can’t be any worse than yesterday?” I told her.

“Careful with things like that; you never want to tempt fate,” Grandma told me.

Breakfast seemed to fly, and I soon pulled up to the school in the SUV. “Close your mouth, Your Highness,” Madame Lavigne said with a smirk. “I am a bit shocked, too, though!”

Looking at the campus at that time of day, you would typically see skirts, slacks, and blazers. Instead, that morning, I saw about eighty percent of the girls had somehow dug out their own school jumper dresses and were wearing them. The jumper dress option didn’t require a blazer because it was meant for the younger kids. I had to admit it was quite a bit more comfortable without it!

As we pulled up, Léa and Noémie both ran up to me, and Noémie said, “This is the most adorable thing I think I’ve done since I was a kid!”

I laughed, and the two interlocked arms with me as we walked inside with Madame Lavigne behind us. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Ensuring that the point has been made,” she said simply. I noted that a shorter woman I knew from the security detail was also following us. “This is Amandine; she’s going to be with you from now on all day.”

I groaned but said, “Yes, ma’am.”

The three of us, plus my newly acquired shadow, walked into the form room, where I discovered most of the girls had found a jumper dress of their own. A few of them were probably on the verge of getting dress-coded over the length! I had a gut feeling that for the one-off situation at the end of the year like this, they’d probably let them pass. Several girls, whom I had only casually started getting to put names and faces together, came up to me and told me they loved how I had dealt with the situation.

In our French class, I noted that Lilou was not in class and guessed she was probably in the same hot water as I hoped my cousin was. Lola was clearly the instigator, but Léna and Lilou seemed to follow her quite happily!

“Well, good morning, class. Did I forget where I was supposed to go this morning?” Monsieur Olivier joked. “I seem to be at Clara’s campus instead?”

We made it through class with my catch-up reading, which allowed me to participate in the discussions without feeling lost that day. I had started the second novel, so at least I could use the book’s first part in the discussions, too, and I felt like I was no longer drowning!

Between classes, conversations seemed a little happier? ‘It’s like a themed day back home for homecoming?’ I mused to myself. ‘Or are Lola and her friends that toxic?’

Math was a better class without Lilou that day, and I couldn’t help but wonder what punishment the girls had received. Obviously, faculty members would not tell us about it, so we’d have to wait for the rumor mill to hit!

That happened on the way to an orchestra rehearsal in the auditorium. “Did you hear about Lola?” an older girl said in front of me as I walked down the hallway with Zoé.

“She got in trouble?” the girl asked. I noted she had participated in the ‘primary girl day’ as several called it.

“Apparently, she and those two brats she calls friends were responsible for this,” she said, pointing to her dress. “I heard she was suspended for a week?”

“Serves her right,” the first girl said. “It’d be nice if they expelled her, but at least she’s actually gotten in trouble. She’s done stuff like this, loads of time, and never gotten in trouble! Her daddy’s always gotten her out of it?”

“Well, doing it to the princess might be the one person she couldn’t get out of it with?”

“She didn’t deserve to be picked on like that, either. Everyone who’s gotten to hang out with her only says nice things.”

The first girl opened the door and got ahead of us enough that I lost the last part of their conversation.

I turned to Zoé, “It would be nice not to deal with her for a week…?”

“I agree; it’s better to make that forever!” she complained. Suddenly, though, she gave me a hug. “Thanks for sticking it out. I don’t know that I would have gone to school today or gone through with this,” she said, pointing to the jumper.

I laughed, “If it wasn’t for you and the rest of my new friends, I wouldn’t have come!”

“Since we haven’t had to wear our blazers today, this is a more comfortable outfit.”

I shook my head, “The only price is fear of being moved across the street?”

“Would it be so bad? They have swings and slides there!” She joked with me.

“I might have said the homework would be easier when that was mentioned earlier,” I admitted.

She moved to the violin section while I headed near the back, where the woodwinds were. I realized that if she and her friends were suspended for a week, we would be short a clarinet player! Everyone was having a seat when I noticed a familiar face, “Monsieur Dubois, what are you doing here?”

He smiled, “Hugo told me he needs a sub. We’re on a season break right now, so I’m free?”

“Do you want the first parts?”

He shook his head, “No, that’s all you!”

Maestro Fontaine mostly ran our music straight through in the class period, though he skipped the easy sections for time. When we finished, I thanked Monsieur Dubois and headed to lunch with the girls. We were walking back when a police car pulled up alongside us, “Mademoiselles, what are you doing out of school?”

I looked at him in surprise while the other girls laughed.

“Officer, we’re not primary students,” Élise told him.

“You are wearing their uniform though?” He asked.

“Long story, if you come by the Lycée, you’ll see most of the girls wore the jumper dresses today.”

He looked confused but said, “I’ll check on this later.”

“Have a good day!” Zoé told him.

The six of us had a giggle fit, and then Lanie said, “You should have just told her that Noémie, Léa, and Allie were skipping!”

“Hey!” Léa said, and there was a bit of a game of chase on the final stretch to the school.

History went quickly that day, but I was called at the end of the class to the office to see the headmaster. There was a feeling of dread being called to the principal’s office, no matter what name they called it here!

I found Madame Lavigne inside the office with him, though, and my fear subsided slightly. I greeted both of them and took the seat beside her.

“Thank you both for coming in,” he told me. “I wanted to follow up with you, Alexandria, and ensure you didn’t have any undue problems from yesterday?”

“I did last night,” I told him. “The online comments were really hurtful.”

“Nothing today?”

I shrugged, “I think we found a way to blunt it?”

“The primary school day dress-up most of the girls seemed to have done today?” He asked neutrally.

“It was just going to be my friends?”

“But it exploded,” he said, finally showing a small smile. “So, have you had problems today?”

I shook my head, “No, everyone’s been really nice. Honestly, I think many people were glad to see them get in trouble for once?”

He looked a little nervous at that, “I can’t…”

“Speak to that, I know,” I told him.

“That being said, you shouldn’t have this problem again.” He told me meaningfully. “In the meantime, thank you for figuring out a positive way to deal with things,” he said, pointing to my clothes. “Though some teachers have noted that the maturity level of some of the girls has plummeted today?”

I laughed, “Not going to take the blame there.”

“Some girls also inquired if this is okay to wear normally. It was something about the requirements not mentioning blazers with them. It seems my governing board never worried about blazers with the younger kids, and none of the older kids ever wanted to wear the dresses?”

“I can’t speak to that?” I said.

“Quite the little loophole,” Madame Lavigne smiled beside me. “Amazing how students can find them sometimes. What are you going to do about it?”

He shrugged, “We’ll have a meeting about it this summer. I will probably advise leaving the requirements as they are. If you ladies want to dress like you’re in primary school, I don’t care.”

I laughed, “I’m guessing that won’t be overly common.”

“No,” he said, “probably not. Anyway, I wanted to make sure your day had gone alright. Why don’t you return to class, and I’ll finish my conversation with your governess here?”

I felt a little nervous about that, but I headed back for the last part of the programming class. I knew I wouldn’t catch up in the last week of classes next week!
 

SEVERAL HOURS LATER, I was standing in my room, looking in the mirror at my appearance. I was wearing a dress that met their requirements for the concert. Apparently, an all-black, at least short-sleeved, floor-length gown still allowed some room for spending more money than made sense!

The top of the dress was standard, with a short-sleeved design and full coverage up to my neck. The upper section appeared to be see-through down to above my bra cups but was a nude-colored panel. A thin black organza layer was on top of that, though, with a complicated pattern of beads and sequins that began there and continued towards the skirt. It stopped at irregular points along the skirt, making an interesting pattern that almost looked like waves. The skirt was entirely black and lined, with a little bit of fabric to cause it to fluff slightly, and covered with that organza in a couple of layers. The bodice hugged me like it had been sewn just for me, emphasizing the effects of my padded bra.

It had to have been created by hand and was probably worth at least twenty of my friend’s dresses!

Giselle had done my hair up into a bun for a formal event and used the comb I used instead of a tiara until I could wear one. I had short, dangly earrings made of diamonds and a pearl necklace around my neck. Her use of makeup on my face took the little girl from earlier and made her look much more mature!

I had to get to the auditorium a bit early for the warm-up, but I was assured Grandma would be there for the concert that night. Of course, that meant security was working overtime with both of us being there. Still, she seemed to love the idea of her granddaughter performing with the school orchestra!

When I walked inside with my new bodyguard following me, I was pleased to see I was still early. Taking my seat, I began warming up and was soon joined by Monsieur Dubois.

“You sound great tonight,” he told me.

I blushed, “Thank you.”

“You ready?”

I shrugged, “As ready as anyone can be after four days?”

He laughed, “From what Hugo told me, you’re more ready than the other two have been after four months!”

I turned even redder then.

We had a chance for the orchestra to warm up and hit some spots, then a thirty-minute break before the concert while our audience took their seats. During that time, my friends all gushed about my dress: “Allie, that’s so pretty!” Zoé said, her own dress being a simple all-black affair.

“Thanks, Zo,” I told her. “You look pretty, too!”

She shook her head, “You’re clearly the princess tonight!”

I laughed, “seems to be unavoidable these days!”

“How much did that cost?” Noémie asked quietly.

“Honestly, I don’t ask!” I told her.

Eventually, it was time, and we began the concert with the overture. It was a fun piece to play, and I enjoyed playing with an orchestra. Having Monsieur Dubois beside me meant I had a great clarinet player to match and tune to! We were a good team, and several of the other winds commented on that as we waited off-stage for the string-only piece to conclude. “I love not having that out-of-tune brat next to me.” The principal oboist said to me.

I just shrugged, “Happy to help?”

Capriccio Espagnole was the next piece as we came back on stage. I was happy to nail every single note correctly with my new clarinet! I felt like I even made it quite musical, and I hoped they were recording this so I could listen later. I was told to stand as one of the soloists before the rest of the orchestra and stand for a standing ovation.

When we reached the movie arrangement with the film, I could feel the energy as Maestro Fontaine did a fantastic job with his timing to line things up. With the final note of the piece echoing through the hall, people were already standing and applauding, and we enjoyed the accolades of our audience for far longer than I recalled back home with any concerts!

I cleaned and disassembled my instruments, thanked Monsieur Dubois, and began exiting and finding Grandma. As I did so, I noticed I was getting some odd looks, but that had become quite normal at that point, so I just shrugged them off.

Grandma gave me a hug, “Well done, sweetie.”

“Thanks, Grandma!”

I was thrilled in that moment—no Lola or her cronies. My friends and family said I did a good job, and I had fun playing!

We were on the way to Grandma's limo to go home when the flashing of cameras began. I was almost in the limo when I heard the first question,

“Your Highness, is it true that you’re really a boy?!?”

“How can you be a princess if you’re a boy?!?”

A dozen questions all began peppering me as my body reacted in shock!

Grandma hurried into the car, and we were rapidly off, even as I felt tears down my face and looked up at her, “What happened?!?”
 
 

Epilogue

“This is a PR nightmare,” Geneva said, rubbing her eyes. “Your Majesty, how do you want to handle this?”

“First, I want to know how they found out!” Grandma seethed.
Giuseppe came inside right then and said, “I have some information on that part.”

“Go ahead?” Grandma asked, “What did you find out?”

“I thought that maybe they got a sample from Princess Alexandria’s clothes when they stole them, but that’s not where that came from.”

“Go on?”

“Apparently, Sébastien Dupuy acquired the sample for them at the ceremony this past weekend?” Giuseppe said. “He acquired one of Her Highness’s hairs there?”

I groaned suddenly, “I thought it was caught in the chair! He must have pulled one out!”

“What were they looking for?” Grandma asked.

“At the time, was she genuinely your heir? The discovery of her XY Chromosomes was an unexpected bonus.”

“I want the knighthood rescinded immediately,” Grandma said with a hiss.

“That’s not going to help the calls for resignation!” Geneva said.

“What are we going to do?” Grandma asked then, even as I devolved into tears and decided I’d had enough, running from the meeting in her office down to my room to cry myself to sleep on my bed.

‘Everyone knows now!!!’
 

To Be Continued…